


One Life to Love

by mandynightfury



Category: Liberty's Kids
Genre: F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23254024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandynightfury/pseuds/mandynightfury
Summary: What if the British officers had spotted James earlier at the docks during episode 16. How will James, Sarah, and Henri keep James from being forced into the navy? Read to find out!
Relationships: James Hiller/Sarah Phillips
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	1. One Life To Love

“Please, I have a family, my wife, my children!” cried the man hysterically as the British soldiers dragged him up the gangplank and onto the large naval ship. 

“Good heavens, whatever are they doing to that poor man,” gasped Sarah having to look away at the devastating sight, while James watched, a scowl on his face, and Henri hid behind a barrel.

“I’ve got to do something!” growled James, furious at the cruelty of the British soldiers. He took a step towards them until a hand stopped James in his path.

“I wouldn’t do that boy unless you want to join him,” whispered the old fisherman who’d blocked James’ path.

“What are they doing to him?” whispered Henri, trembling behind the barrel.

“It’s called impressment. They grab lads like your friend right off the street and force them to join the British navy, so I suggest you all skedaddle before they spot you. The girl is safe, I’d say the little one too, but you boy, you’re prime impressment material!” snapped the man, pointing an accusing finger at James, and unbeknownst to them drawing the attention of a few of the naval officers.

“I can’t leave there’s a story to be told here!” whispered James angrily when Sarah suddenly gasped behind him. “Sarah, what it-” James froze, seeing three armed officers now walking towards them.

“Too, late boy. No sense in running now,” muttered the fisherman before sauntering off. 

“Eh street rat, stay where you are!” called the leader of the group of soldiers, causing James to flinch and Sarah to let out a silent cry of “Oh no”. The soldiers reached the three teens, a feral grin plastered on the leader’s face.

“Hello good sirs, is there something we can help you with?” said Sarah with a strained smile. 

“What are you lot doing out here, and what is a fine young lady such as yourself doing with a couple of street rats like them?” said the leader, leering at Sarah. This did not go unnoticed by James, and Sarah had to put a hand on his chest to stop him.

“We are journalists for Doctor Franklin!” shouted Henri proudly, earning a scowl from James and Sarah for intervening.

“I see, well this lad’s coming with us, but don’t worry I’m sure he’ll come up with some great stories while at sea,” smirked the man as the other soldiers reached for James. Sarah knew she didn’t have time to react, so she did the first thing that came to mind. Without hesitation, she threw herself into James’ arms, stunning everyone including James, who wrapped his arms around her out of pure instinct.

“Please don’t take him!” cried Sarah, barreling into this without a plan.

“Shh...Sarah...uh, it’s going to be okay,” soothed James, confused by Sarah’s sudden change in behavior.

“It’s alright lassy, he won’t be gone long. What is this scruffy yank to you anyway?” said the leader, once he’d gotten over the initial shock of a proper British lady leaping into the embrace of a filthy American.

“ ‘ow dare you try to take a husband away from his wife!” shouted Heri, trying to hide his smile at his friends’ embarrassment as both Sarah and James blushed.

“Yes, my dear sweet husband. Please, you can’t take him from me now!” cried Sarah as James looked down at Sarah dumbfounded.

“Husband, huh. Where are your rings?” questioned the officer. Sarah paused, but this time it was James who spoke up.

“You see that locket around her neck? That’s them, we melted them together after the wedding,” said James smirking as the soldiers tried to catch a glance at the locket glistening on Sarah’s neck.

“He’s right, with all the strife between England and the colonists, my dearest James was worried that some people would take drastic action against us if they were to find out he’d married a British girl and become a loyalist, so we concealed our rings by making them into a locket,” sniffed Sarah, snuggling into James’ embrace as he awkwardly rubbed soothing circles on her shoulder with his right thumb.

“Don’t worry ma’am we’ll bring him back to you, but all men must serve in the king’s military,” stuttered the man, unused to seeing such public displays of affection. 

“Oh please sir don’t take him, he’s planning on joining up later. He can’t wait to join up, but can’t you just wait a little longer my love? Please I can’t be without you right now!” cried Sarah, once again turning up the tears once again as the soldiers watched on.

“And why shouldn’t we take him now?” questioned the leader, as his soldiers once again began to close in on the “happy couple”. 

“Because they are going to ‘ave a baby!” shouted Heri, barely concealing a chuckle when he saw the stunned look on Sarah and James’ faces.

“Uh, why yes. You can’t take him now, he has to be there for the birth of our first child! Please, the baby will be here in a few months and there’s no way I’ll be able to run the print shop in my condition. He’ll join up after the birth of our child, but please, don’t take him from me right now, I don’t think I could bear it!” sobbed Sarah, grabbing James’ hand and placing it on her abdomen, letting her own hand rest atop his, as James rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Alright missy, you’ve got yourself a deal. We’ll see you in a few months lad, oh and I believe congratulations are in order,” smiled the leader his gaze softening as the group of soldiers turned and walked off in the other direction, leaving the three teenagers behind.

“So, ‘hen am I going to become an uncle?” asked Henri chuckling as Sarah and James realized they were still caught up in such an intimate embrace. James pulled his hand away from Sarah’s abdomen as if it had burned him while blushing furiously. The pair untangled themselves as James helped Sarah up before chasing after Heri.

“Get back here you little troublemaker!” shouted James chasing after the giggling by, leaving Sarah to watch them fondly, blushing at what daydreams had flashed through her head following Heri’s statement, not even realizing that her hand had never left its place on her abdomen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you guys like to see an epilogue with a time skip? If so, please comment down below.


	2. Epilogue: Our Life To Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years have passed since James was nearly impressed into the British Navy and a lot had changed. Where are James and Sarah now and has their romance bloomed since that day?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Character Names:
> 
> Benjamin Franklin: The owner of the Pennsylvania Gazette and the man who took James in after he left life as an orphan on the streets. 
> 
> Marie Hiller: James' Mother
> 
> August Hiller: James' Father
> 
> Major Thomas Phillips: Sarah's Father
> 
> Thomas (Tom) Phillips: Sarah's Cousin

**10 Years Later**

Sarah sat on the shore, looking out at the sparkling sea, the warm glow of the sun, comforting as the sea breeze wafted through the air. The woman’s moment of serenity interrupted by a quiet whimper, causing her to look down at the infant in her lap who’d begun to squirm.

“Shhh, Shhhh, it’s alright little one, mama’s here,” she soothed gingerly wiping a tear off of the child’s face with her thumb, before handing the child her finger to grip. Taking his mother’s finger in his tiny hands, the baby opened his eyes, vibrant green eyes stared back into Sarah’s own. “My my, someone just wanted some attention,” she cooed stroking the small tuft of blonde hair atop her child’s head, the infant, now basking in his mother’s affection, once again returned to his nap.

Her life had definitely changed a lot since she first arrived in America. Growing up in a midst of the colonist’s battle for independence had shaped her in a way she never thought. Born and raised as a proper English lady, she never thought that her time in America would turn her into something in between, not quite either side, but it seemed uniquely her. The Americans were unlike anything she’d imagined, she thought they’d all be brutes after witnessing the attack on ships the night she arrived, but then after only knowing her for a day, the Pennsylvania Gazette had taken her in as part of her family. Moses, who’d been enslaved and beaten for years before earning his freedom, had accepted her without question, all of them as if they were his own children. Henri, who’d been locked up and forced to serve a captain, only freed when James and Moses had smuggled home in a crate, had no reason to trust her, yet he snuggled up to her under James’ coat on the way back to Pennsylvania. And James, James, had given her and Henri his coat on a freezing night to keep themselves warm, who had given up his only memento of his parents to replace her father’s locket and had comforted her after her cousin, Tom, had been shot. She hadn’t realized she’d begun to see Moses as an older brother and Heri as the mischievous younger sibling she’d always wanted, and James, she hadn’t quite been able to put a label on her feelings towards him until that day on the docks. When she saw James about to be dragged away, probably to his death, it was in that moment that she realized that her feelings weren’t just platonic or familiar, but something more, and she couldn’t imagine a life without him.

That day on the docks marked the start of their relationship in her eyes. When all three of them arrived home, shaken by the encounter, the rest of the night had been spent in silence, until the nightmare. She’d woken up screaming after dreaming that the officers had succeeded, and shortly after had returned handing her a tattered English flag, saying that his ship had gone down and he’d perished. James’ who’d been woken up by her screams, had rushed into her room, brandishing a candlestick ready to strike down the nonexistent intruder. It was then that she’d broken down and explained her nightmare as James rubbed soothing circles on her back. He’d told her that he couldn’t sleep either, knowing that he almost lost the chance to watch Henri grow up, to see Moses open his school, and to miss out on spending more time with her. 

After that day, they’d only grown closer, and a few months later they’d began courting, much to the irritation of her mother. Shortly after her announcement, her mother had asked her to come with her to visit her father’s new estate and had spent most of the trip attempting to convince her daughter to choose an Englishman as a suitor instead. She’d even had the audacity to invite one of the neighboring former British officer’s son’s over for an introduction. Sarah had tried to politely show her disinterest until the young man had chosen to say that he could give her a far better life than any filthy American, let alone a street urchin. It was then that Sara had called him out, realizing that she’d never felt so distant from her English upbringing. She’d nearly demanded to be taken home that night, only persuaded by her father’s desire to catch up. The trip had been cut short however when a letter arrived from Moses saying that James had been severely injured after rescuing a young woman from a fire. The memory of her getting that letter and collapsing to her knees still haunts her dreams, something her husband’s embrace and the sound of his heartbeat could soothe.

Her parents, shocked by her reaction, had rushed her back to Pennsylvania to say goodbye. James had been crushed by burning rubble, his body covered in thick bandages covering the wounds. Moses knew James had been planning to propose and had placed the items that were on his person after the accident, his notebook, and an engagement ring. She hadn’t left James’ side for days until he finally woke up. Both were overjoyed when James purposed after seeing Sarah wearing the ring and agreed, with her parents’ approval, that they would get married as soon as he’d recovered.

They were married three months later on July 4th and James officially took over the print shop. A year later Sarah was overjoyed to discover that she was expecting. James had been terrified at first, having spent his early childhood on the streets with no role model, was afraid he wouldn’t know how to help raise their child. As her stomach swelled, James calmed down, his fear turning into incessant fretting over her until their daughter Liberty came screaming into the world several months later. The second she opened her crystal blue eyes, both her parents were hopelessly smitten, giving their new baby the name Liberty Marie Hiller, her middle name in honor of James’ mother. 

A joyful squeal roused Sarah from her thoughts as her eight-year-old daughter ran circles around her father, her red hair billowing behind her. Liberty, giggling as she clutched the hat she’d snatched from him like a trophy as her father chased after her, a grinning as he played with his daughter. Liberty had been only six when Sarah had discovered that she was once again expecting and the little girl had been ecstatic. Eight months later, James August Hiller, was born, practically a copy of his father, aside from his mother's green eyes.

“Everything alright?” a soothing voice asked, as Sarah looked up into the ocean blue eyes of her husband.

“Yes dear, just reminiscing,” she smiled, as James took a seat beside her, Liberty now occupied with drawing shapes in the sand. 

“Things sure have changed, haven’t they? Not such a filthy rebel now am I?” he chuckled rubbing a hand through his blonde hair, still tied back in his signature ponytail. He’d grown taller, his form less lanky and now supported with lithe muscle from lifting the press over the years, was a far cry from the skinny teenage boy he’d once been.

“Not really, you’re just no longer a rebel James, you’re an American,” 

“We both are,” he said pulling her in for a light kiss, “We all are,” he whispered, their foreheads touching as he placed his hand on her abdomen, not yet showing signs of the new life growing inside.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven months later Benjamin Thomas Hiller joined the still growing family, looking like a seamless blend of both parents with his pale blue eyes flecked with green and reddish-blonde hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Children:
> 
> Liberty Marie Hiller: Named after the importance of American freedom in her parent's relationship and her middle name in honor of James' mother 
> 
> James August Hiller: Named after his father, his middle name in honor of James' father
> 
> Benjamin Thomas Hiller: Named after Dr. Franklin, the man who took James in, and Sarah's father and cousin who both shared the name Thomas. 


End file.
